JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan -- Some 50 people have picketed the Jalal-Abad regional administration building in southern Kyrgyzstan demanding "respect, honors, and compensation" for the victims of clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in June, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
The protesters on demanded on April 18 that the relatives of those killed in the clashes receive regular social allowances and those who died get National Hero awards.
They also said a memorial must be raised to commemorate those killed in the vicinity of the Sanpa cotton factory near the city of Jalal-Abad. They added that people who are still missing must be found, unidentified corpses quickly identified via DNA testing, and those responsible for the clashes and the killing be charged and tried in court.
Jalal-Abad Oblast Deputy Governor Jumagul Egemberdieva met with the protesters. She told them that possible financial compensation and social allowances can only be resolved by the Finance Ministry, while only parliament can decide on the issue of National Hero titles.
She added that as far as the monument is concerned, the government should have money for such a project but currently does not have any available funds.
More than 400 people were killed in the ethnic clashes that erupted in the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions in mid-June 2010. Dozens are still missing as many bodies have not yet been identified due to a lack of DNA laboratories in Kyrgyzstan.
Read more in Kyrgyz here
The protesters on demanded on April 18 that the relatives of those killed in the clashes receive regular social allowances and those who died get National Hero awards.
They also said a memorial must be raised to commemorate those killed in the vicinity of the Sanpa cotton factory near the city of Jalal-Abad. They added that people who are still missing must be found, unidentified corpses quickly identified via DNA testing, and those responsible for the clashes and the killing be charged and tried in court.
Jalal-Abad Oblast Deputy Governor Jumagul Egemberdieva met with the protesters. She told them that possible financial compensation and social allowances can only be resolved by the Finance Ministry, while only parliament can decide on the issue of National Hero titles.
She added that as far as the monument is concerned, the government should have money for such a project but currently does not have any available funds.
More than 400 people were killed in the ethnic clashes that erupted in the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions in mid-June 2010. Dozens are still missing as many bodies have not yet been identified due to a lack of DNA laboratories in Kyrgyzstan.
Read more in Kyrgyz here
